Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between recreational sound exposure and potentially undiagnosed or subclinical hearing loss by assessing sound exposure history, threshold sensitivity, distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) amplitudes, and performance on the words-in-noise (WIN) test.
Design: Survey data were collected from 74 adult participants (14 male and 60 female), 18 to 27 years of age, recruited via advertisements posted throughout the University of Florida campus. Of these participants, 70 completed both the survey and the additional functional test battery, and their preferred listening level was measured in a laboratory setting.
Noise exposure that causes a temporary threshold shift but no permanent threshold shift can cause degeneration of synaptic ribbons and afferent nerve fibers, with a corresponding reduction in wave I amplitude of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) in animals. This form of underlying damage, hypothesized to also occur in humans, has been termed , and it has been hypothesized that there will be a hidden hearing loss consisting of functional deficits at suprathreshold stimulus levels. This study assessed whether recreational noise exposure history was associated with smaller ABR wave I amplitude and poorer performance on suprathreshold auditory test measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Noise-induced hearing loss is a leading cause of occupational and recreational injury and disease, and a major determinant of age-related hearing loss. No therapeutic agent has been approved for the prevention or treatment of this disorder. In animal models, glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) activity is reduced after acute noise exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Human hearing is sensitive to sounds from as low as 20 Hz to as high as 20,000 Hz in normal ears. However, clinical tests of human hearing rarely include extended high-frequency (EHF) threshold assessments, at frequencies extending beyond 8000 Hz. EHF thresholds have been suggested for use monitoring the earliest effects of noise on the inner ear, although the clinical usefulness of EHF threshold testing is not well established for this purpose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe University of Florida on-campus AuD program is described. To date, 63 students have been enrolled in this program. Sixteen doctoral-level audiology faculty teach in this program, either in the classroom or clinically.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe intelligibility of sentences recorded from the uterus of a pregnant ewe and from the near-term fetal sheep inner ear was judged by 30 listeners. Sentences were presented to the ewe at 95 and 105 dB SPL while sequential recordings of sound with a hydrophone and a cochlear microphonic (CM) with electrodes were made. Recordings were randomized and presented to listeners to judge the intelligibility of sentences processed through the ewe and fetal inner ear.
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